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Stye (tfommotitoealtl) of jtla00acf)U0ett0. 

TEACHERS' RETIREMENT BOARD. 



LEGISLATION 



RELATIVE TO THE 



RETIREMENT SYSTEM FOR PUBLIC 
SCHOOL TEACHERS 



ENACTED BY 



THE GENERAL COURT OF 1917, 







BOSTON: 

WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING CO., STATE PRINTERS, 

32 DERNE STREET. 

1917. 



./If- 
/f/7 



Publication of this Document 

approved by the 
Supervisor of Administration. 

0, of D., 
1918 



AMENDMENT TO THE TEACHERS' RETIREMENT LAW 
PROVIDING FOR THE RETIREMENT OF DISABLED 
MEMBERS OF THE RETIREMENT ASSOCIATION. 



In accordance with the provisions of chapter 152 of the 
Resolves of 1916, the Teachers' Retirement Board investigated 
the subject of providing for the retirement of public school 
teachers in cases of permanent disability, and submitted a 
report on the subject to the General Court of 1917. The report 
was favorably considered, and chapter 233 of the General Acts 
of 1917 was enacted, changing the retirement law substantially 
as recommended by the Board. 

The law as amended provides that if a member of the Retire- 
ment Association who has not attained the age of 60 is inca- 
pable of rendering satisfactory service as a teacher on account 
of permanent mental or physical disability he may be retired 
by the employing school committee, subject to the approval of 
the Retirement Board. Application for the retirement of a dis- 
abled teacher must be made by the employing school com- 
mittee. 

In order to be eligible for retirement it is necessary that the 
member have five consecutive years of service immediately 
preceding retirement, and a total of not less than twenty years 
of service in the public schools of this State. The member 
must be examined by a physician selected by the school com- 
mittee and approved by the Retirement Board. 

It was realized that some teachers retired on account of 
disability would have absences from school duties on account of 
sickness, and provision was therefore made that periods of 
leave of absence or sickness shall not be considered as breaking 
the continuity of the five years of consecutive service required 
immediately preceding retirement, but such periods of absence 
or sickness shall not be counted as service. 

A retired member receives a retiring allowance consisting of 
two parts, annuity and pension. The annuity is derived from 



the member's own contributions with interest, based on the 
tables adopted by the Retirement Board. There are three 
forms of annuity which may be granted: — 
• 1. An annuity for life. 

2. A smaller annuity, with the provision that in the event of 
death before receiving annuity payments equal to the amount 
which the member had to his credit in the annuity fund at the 
time of retirement the estate will receive the difference in one 
sum. 

3. An annuity-certain, which provides for payments from 
the annuity fund for a definite number of years only. This 
form of annuity is granted only upon the approval of the 
Retirement Board, and the number of years during which the 
annuity shall be paid shall be determined by the Retirement 
Board in each case. The annual payments will be of such an 
amount that if the retired member survives the annuity- 
certain period he will .have received from the annuity fund the 
total amount which he had to his credit. All annuity pay- 
ments cease at the end of the annuity-certain period, and if 
the member survives this period only the amount due from the 
pension fund will be paid. In the event of death before the 
expiration of the annuity-certain period the balance to the 
credit of the member in the annuity fund shall be paid to 
the estate. 

In addition to the annuity, a retired member will receive for 
each year of service a pension from the State equal to one- 
thirtieth of the pension which he would have received if he had 
retired at the age of 60, having contributed thirty annual 
assessments to the annuity fund. In determining the pension 
which a member would have received if he had contributed 
thirty annual assessments to the annuity fund, theoretical 
assessments based on the average salary for the five years 
immediately preceding retirement are added to the amount 
which he had to his credit at the time of retirement. The 
minimum pension is one-thirtieth of $250 for each year of 
service. Provision is made, however, that except in cases where 
an annuity-certain is granted, the total retiring allowance shall 
in no case be greater than the retiring allowance which the 
member would receive if he were to continue in service until the 



age of 60. When an annuity-certain is granted, the member 
will receive from the pension fund the same amount which he 
would have received if he had chosen the first or second form 
of annuity. 

The Retirement Board may require a retired member who 
has not attained the age of 60 to be re-examined at interval's of 
not less than one year by a physician selected by the Retire- 
ment Board, as it is possible that some of the disabled members 
may regain their health. If disability which prevents satisfac- 
tory service as a teacher no longer exists, the retiring allow- 
ance shall cease. 

When the retiring allowance of a member is discontinued, 
the balance to his credit in the annuity fund will be deter- 
mined on the basis of tables adopted by the Retirement Board, 
and this amount may be withdrawn by the member if he does 
not re-enter the public school service. 

General Acts, Chapter 233. 
An Act relative to the Retirement System for Public School Teachers. 

Section 1. Paragraph (2) of section one of chapter eight hundred and 
thirty-two of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and thirteen is hereby 
amended by adding at the end thereof the following: — " Annuities-certain" 
shall mean payments for a definite number of years only, derived from 
contributions from teachers, and the number of years during which the 
payments shall be made shall be determined by the retirement board, — 
so as to read as follows: — (2) "Annuities" shall mean payments for 
life derived from contributions from teachers. " Annuities-certain" shall 
mean payments for a definite number of years only, derived from contribu- 
tions from teachers, and the number of years during which the payments 
shall be made shall be determined by the retirement board. 

Section 2. Section six of said chapter eight hundred and thirty-two, 
as amended by section two of chapter one hundred and ninety-seven of 
the General Acts of the year nineteen hundred and fifteen, is hereby 
amended by adding at the end thereof the following paragraphs: — (8) Any 
member of the retirement association who has served twenty or more years 
in the public schools of the commonwealth and who, before attaining the 
age of sixty, by reason of physical or mental disability, becomes perma- 
nently incapable of rendering satisfactory service as a teacher, may, with 
the approval of the retirement board, be retired by the employing school 
committee: provided, that he has served in the public schools of the com- 
monwealth for the five consecutive years immediately preceding the date 
of his retirement. Periods of leave of absence or sickness shall not be 
considered as breaking the continuity of the five consecutive years of serv- 



ice required by the provisions of this paragraph, but such periods of absence 
or sickness shall not be counted as service. 

(9) Any member of the retirement association shall, upon retirement 
under the provisions of paragraph (8) of this section, and during the con- 
tinuance of disability, be entitled to receive from the annuity fund, in 
quarterly payments, a sum computed in accordance with the provisions 
of paragraph (3) of this section: provided, that upon the approval of the 
retirement board, an annuity-certain based upon the tables of the board 
may be substituted for either of the plans provided for in said paragraph, 
and in case of the death of the annuitant before all the instalments-certain 
have been paid, the value at that time of the unpaid instalments, as de- 
termined on the basis of the tables adopted by the retirement board, shall 
be paid to the legal representatives of the deceased member's estate; and 
further provided, that if no executor or administrator of the estate of such 
deceased member is appointed within three months after his death, all 
sums due under this paragraph, not exceeding one hundred dollars in any 
one case, may be paid to such person or persons as appear in the judgment 
of the retirement board to be entitled to the proceeds of the estate, and 
such payment shall be a bar to recovery by any other person. 

(10) Any member of the retirement association receiving a payment 
as provided in paragraph (9) of this section, shall, if not rendered ineligible 
therefor by the provisions of section twelve of this act, be entitled to re- 
ceive from the pension fund for each year of service a pension equal to 
one thirtieth of the pension which would have been due him under the 
provisions of this act if he had retired at the age of sixty, having paid 
thirty annual assessments to the annuity fund, and received an annuity 
computed in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (3), option (a) of 
this section: provided, however, that the minimum annual amount to be 
paid from the pension fund shall be such that a member shall receive from 
this fund, for each year of his service, one thirtieth of two hundred and 
fifty dollars; and further provided, that the total retiring allowance shall 
in no case be greater than the amount which the said member would re- 
ceive if he were to continue in service until the age of sixty, contributing 
annual assessments based on the average salary received during the five 
years of service immediately preceding retirement, at the rate of assess- 
ment in effect at the time of retirement. 

(11) If a member is granted an annuity-certain by the retirement board, 
his total retiring allowance shall not be limited to the total retiring allow- 
ance which he would have received at the age of sixty, as provided in 
paragraph (10) of this section, but the amount to be paid from the pension 
fund shall be the amount which would have been paid from that fund if 
an annuity-certain had not been granted. 

(12) In computing the amount to be paid from the pension fund under 
the provisions of paragraph (10) of this section, the assumed assessments 
necessary to complete the thirty annual assessments shall be based on the 
average salary received during the five years of service immediately pre- 



ceding retirement, and shall be at the rate of assessment in effect at the 
time of retirement. Interest on the amount to the member's credit at the 
time of retirement and on the assumed assessments shall be figured at 
the rate of three per cent. 

(13) No member of the retirement association shall be retired under 
the provisions of paragraph (8) of this section until the fact of his dis- 
ability has been certified to under oath by an examining physician selected 
by the employing school committee and approved by the retirement board, 
and until any further evidence of his disability which the retirement board 
may require shall have been furnished. 

(14) At intervals of not less than one year, any member of the retire- 
ment association receiving a retiring allowance under the provisions of 
this section, who has not attained the age of sixty, shall, if so requested 
by the retirement board, be re-examined by a physician selected by the 
retirement board. If the retirement board finds that disability which 
prevents satisfactory service as a teacher no longer exists, the retiring 
allowance shall cease. Refusal to submit to re-examination shall be cause 
for discontinuing the retiring allowance. 

(15) If a teacher ceases to receive a retiring allowance under the pro- 
visions of paragraph (14) of this section, the amount to his credit at that 
time in the annuity fund shall be determined on the basis of tables adopted 
by the retirement board, and the said amount shall be considered for the 
purposes of this act to constitute the sum of his assessments, with the 
regular interest allowed thereon, to the time when his retiring allowance 
ceased. 

(16) Any member of the retirement association who shall cease to receive 
a retiring allowance under the provisions of paragraph (14) of this section, 
who does not re-enter the service of the public schools, and who does not 
withdraw the amount to his credit in the annuity fund, may, upon attaining 
the age of sixty, receive a retiring allowance computed in accordance with 
the provisions of paragraphs (3) and (4) of this section, or may, before 
attaining the age of sixty, under conditions to be determined by the re- 
tirement board, upon request and after an interval of one year, be entitled 
to further re-examination by a physician selected by the retirement board, 
and if disability contracted during service as a public school teacher is 
found to exist, shall again be entitled to receive a retiring allowance under 
the provisions of paragraphs (9) and (10) of this section. 

Section 3. This act shall take effect on the first day of July, nineteen 
hundred and seventeen. [Approved May 9, 1917. 



